


At Last Came a Knock

by PrioritiesSorted



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Fluff and Angst, Gen, sorry - Freeform, this was meant to be fluff but then angst happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 03:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2837021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrioritiesSorted/pseuds/PrioritiesSorted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kieren is just falling asleep when the knock comes at his door. It’s so quiet that for a minute he thinks he’s imagined it, before the door opens a crack, and a tiny figure slips into his room. </p>
<p>“Kier?” </p>
<p>“Mmm, what is it, Jem?” </p>
<p>“I’ve had a bad dream.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Last Came a Knock

**Author's Note:**

> for tumblr user finnickscatchingfire for the ITF Secret Santa exchange! I hope this is something like what you were hoping for, and not too angsty :P

Kieren is just falling asleep when the knock comes at his door. It’s so quiet that for a minute he thinks he’s imagined it, before the door opens a crack, and a tiny figure slips into his room.

“Kier?”

“Mmm, what is it, Jem?”

“I’ve had a bad dream.”

Kieren emits a long suffering sigh, because he is eight and it seems the correct response. But since he is naturally responsible for his little sister, he lifts one side of his duvet and listens to the patter of her tiny feet as she runs across the room to jump in beside him. Jem curls up against his chest, her soft breaths warming a spot on his chest through his pyjamas. He doesn’t ask what the dream was about; he knows she doesn’t like to talk about them. Instead, he wraps his little arms around her and buries his face in her soft hair, drifting easily to sleep.

 

* * *

 

The knock at his door is barely noticeable it’s so quiet, but Kieren is attuned to it, and looks up to see Jem hovering in the doorway, perched as ever on her tiptoes.

“I listened to the CD you made me,” she says, a small smile on her lips, “I liked it, thanks.”

Kieren raises an eyebrow.

“I didn’t hear you listening to it. You play it through your headphones?” Jems nods, confused. Kieren resists the urge to roll his eyes and smiles instead,

“You want to play it loud; that’s sort of the point, Jem.” She seems to shrink further into herself, and for a moment Kieren worries he’s said something wrong.

“But there’s tons of swear words, Mum and Dad’ll go ape.”

“If they do, I’ll tell ‘em it was me who made you it; just give a go, all right?” Kieren smiles, reassuring, and there’s a beat before she nods again, tip-toeing down the hall to her room. He hears the music start up, tentative despite the heavy distortion and screaming vocals, and raises his voice to yell,

“If you can hear me it’s not loud enough!” There’s a slight pause before the volume begins to creep up,

“Louder!” Kieren shouts again, and now it’s steadily climbing so Kieren wouldn’t be surprised if Ken and Maggie could hear it across the road.

“LOUDER!”

 

* * *

 

Sometimes Kieren thinks the knocks at his door are getting harder, but he’s never sure it isn’t wishful thinking.

The day Jem stands in his doorway, both feet planted firmly on the floor, is the day he knows he was right.

 

* * *

 

He nearly jumps out of his skin when he opens the door to find Jem sitting crossed legged on his bed. She’s staring at him, eyebrows raised, a mixture of motherly concern and sisterly glee on her face.

“I knocked and there was no answer,” she says, “so I thought I’d better wait and make sure you got home safe.”

“Well… here I am.” Kieren shrugs, though he knows it’s useless trying to put her off. Jem’s face is alight with excitement, and there will be no moving her until he confesses:

“I was just out with Rick, nothing especially thrilling.”

It’s only partially a lie; he _had_ been out with Rick, but his heart is still beating like it has forgotten what rest is. Every brush of their hands in the dark of the cave had sent a fresh rush of adrenaline through him, and he had felt sure that Rick must hear the frantic thumping in his chest, but perhaps the buzz of alcohol in their ears had deadened the sound.

“So nothing happened, then?” Jem prompts, unconvinced.

“No. Nothing happened.” The thrum of excitement in his veins was ebbing away now, and a heaviness settling over him. He can feel his shoulders sagging as the energy drains out of him, and Jem gets up to wind her arms around him.

“Give him time, Kier.”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

She gives him a last sad smile before slipping out and closing the door quietly behind her. He doesn’t know if he’s glad she’s left him alone.

 

* * *

 

Kieren smiles to himself when he hears the knock at his door. It’s louder than usual, and he can hear the excitement behind it.

“Come in,” he calls, though Jem is already closing the door behind her.

“Tell us all about it, then,” Kieren grins as he closes his sketch book and shuffles over on the bed so she can sit down next to him. She’s looking at her hands, fiddling with her nails, but Kieren can see the smile that refuses to leave her face. Despite her shyness, it’s contagious, and Kieren feels himself smiling along with her as he nudges her side and says,

“Come on, don’t keep us in suspense.”

Jem doesn’t look up from her fingers in her lap as she replies,

“It was good. I had fun.” Even in the dim light of the room, Kieren can tell she’s blushing.

“Oh yeah? What was so fun about it then? The music?”

Jem makes a face.

“Nah, that was all rubbish. Nothing like me and you listen to. It was more the people.”

“Any person in particular?”

“Maybe.”

“Well c’mon then. I know you wanna tell me.”

Jem looks up at him through her eyelashes, and he can tell she’s almost bursting at the seams; she’s not been shy like this for years, and Kieren wonders what could make her so reluctant to speak.

“It’s…” she stammers for a moment before it comes rushing out: “Henry Lonsdale kissed me.”

She’s staring at him like she’s waiting for something, chewing her bottom lip the way she always does when she feels guilty. It hits him all in a rush; she thinks this will upset him. With Rick away in Afghanistan, and Kieren’s letters to him going unanswered, he knows his loneliness has been obvious, but he hates the thought that Jem feels she ought not to be happy. He makes his smile as big as he can manage as he replies,

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place? That’s pretty brilliant, isn’t it? As long as you wanted him to.”

Jem blushes again,

“Yeah, I did.”

“Good, otherwise I would have had to go over there and give him a piece of my mind.” Kieren brings his fists up and waves them in front of his face until Jem laughs and shoves him away,

“Come off it. You couldn’t hurt a fly.”

Kieren is about to challenge her, but their Mum is shouting up the stairs that Jem needs to go to bed, so Kieren gives her a gentle shove instead,

“Go on then. Go and dream of Henry Lonsdale.”

“Oh my God _shut up._ ”

 

* * *

 

She’s expecting it, really, when she knocks at his door, but she keeps trying. She wishes it didn’t hurt so much when she hears his voice drifting through the door,

“Go away, Jem.”

 

* * *

 

Jem knows there will be no answer when she knocks on his door, but she does anyway. She pushes the door open gently, and closes it behind her as quietly as she can; she doesn’t want to disturb him. It’s lighter in Kieren’s room than in the rest of the house, with the yellow street lamp filtering through the thin curtains; his bed is a dark outline in the centre of the room, and Jem stares for a few seconds before she whispers,

“Kier. I’ve had a bad dream.”

She’s tired. Being angry is so tiring. She pulls back the covers and curls up in the still-familiar space. It’s cold, but Jem barely notices; she’s always cold these days. With eyes shut tight against the yellow street light, she wills sleep to take her; perhaps when she wakes again, everything will be all right. This is just another bad dream from which she must eventually wake.

 


End file.
